Once Forgotten/I Believe
by RiaStar
Summary: What happens if the pod squad returns to their home planet (with everyone's favorite humans, of course) and finds out that it's not such a paradise after all?


Once Forgotten, I Believe

Once Forgotten/I Believe

By Ria

Part One- Liz pov.

***  
It's probably sometime in September now. I can't be exactly sure; none of us has counted the days too closely. I'm Liz Evans, and five years ago I died, came to life, fell in love, and fell victim to destiny. Then my life got, if it's possible, even weirder.  
  
I finally got them to invent me something like paper. You would think, seeing as I am the wife of the national hero, they would be a bit more eager to help. But I don't think they understood the concept, no matter how many times we all tried to explain. It escapes me how a species that has discovered advanced space travel can skip having a written language almost entirely. I guess it doesn't matter, however. I've got my paper, now I can get this out without driving Maria, Max, Isabel, Alex, or Michael to distraction.  
  
Where to begin? Summer after sophomore year, I think. Tess was busy trying to ingratiate herself into the alien trio, and we humans formed our own little support group, trying to forget the same alien trio. It didn't work. I still cried myself to sleep every night.  
  
Apparently my connection to Max had gotten stronger than I thought, because one night he jumped in my window, saying that he couldn't listen to me cry anymore, no matter what I said. At that point I was so desolate that he didn't have to argue with me for more than twenty minutes. After that, we gave up the pretense and told off destiny.  
  
Strange thing was, it didn't seem to have much affect on Tess. She complained in a half hearted kind of way, like she was trying to be affected by the news. You can imagine that we were a bit surprised; what happened to "It's our destiny"?   
  
Kyle happened. He waltzed his way into her life at a speed that left us all gasping for breath. I don't know how he did it; I didn't know Kyle had that much sensitivity in him. He certainly never acted like that around me. Tess was so swept away that she let him in; two weeks later my ex-boyfriend and Max's ex-destiny were holding hands as they walked down the school hallways, looking for all the world like Max and me, the meant-to-be couple. I was surprised, but not exactly upset.  
  
Max was in high heaven. Tess was happy. Kyle was content. And I was with Max. Things couldn't get better, right? Wrong. Isabel and Alex took it as a sign, and began seeing each other again. Michael and Maria? Well. . . those two always did do everything their own way. But they did eventually end up, if not exactly together, somewhere in the near vicinity. That made eight of us. We were together. We we're the only ones, but we were not alone. We had each other. And we were happy.  
  
Junior year came and went, as did senior. We were amazed it was so quiet; we all remembered Nasedo's warnings, about the enemies. But everything seemed normal enough. Sure, everyone at school wondered how jock-boy Kyle, popular Isabel, geeky Alex, quiet Max, brainy Liz, airhead Maria, new-girl Tess, and loner Michael fit together. It was like taking a slice out of every click in school and shoving them together. But after the first couple months everyone just figured it was on of those inexplicable things and went back to the more routine gossip.   
  
It wasn't until summer after senior year that things started to get ugly. A man showed up in Roswell one night and tried to assassinate Isabel on the way home from Alex's house. He failed, mainly because Michael was on his way to Maria's at the time and hit the man with a power shock just in time. After that, no one walked anywhere alone. But it just got worse.  
  
More and more attempts were made, and they got pretty damn close. The started in on Alex, Kyle, Maria and me about three weeks later. That's when Max decided we should leave, because there was no way to fight back. Alex, our technical genius, couldn't figure out where they we're coming from. Neither Isabel nor Tess could connect with them. The rest of us, using good old-fashioned detective work, came up with nothing. They just kept coming, and other people in town were starting to notice. Besides, we were all living on the edge of horror right then, never knowing who was a friend and who was a foe. . . so we left. We just told our parents that we were taking a road trip before heading to our colleges, packed up our stuff, and we've never been back.  
  
We have nothing left to go back to. They killed our parents. It's been three years, and here I am, still crying. . .  
  
We almost got caught on our way out of town, but after that things seemed pretty clear. Until Max and Isabel's mother showed up again. This time it was for real.   
  
The spaceship wasn't anything like I've ever seen before. I can't even describe it, other than to say it kinda reminded me of grape jelly, but I'm not entirely sure why. Our alien counterparts somehow managed to talk their mother (and godmother) into bringing us with; none of us had anywhere to go. Besides, just the thought of being parted from them made us feel ill. So we went, and that's when things started getting really confusing. . .   


Part 2- Michael pov.  
***

The first thing I remember when we entered the spaceship was the blaring light. Well, it was hard not to notice, since it was shining right in my eyes. Apparently this race, our relatives, have very bad vision. I think if I stay in this hell-hole much longer mine are going to go bad, too. Hardly much of a loss. I've never seen very clearly with my eyes anyway.  
  
This paper is really weird, and their approximation of pencils are leaving green stains on my fingers. I really want to go home. Strange, isn't it. I was at home that whole time, and that whole time I thought my home was somewhere else. Now that I'm in that somewhere else, all I want to do is go back.  
  
The rest of them don't want to go back, I think. They all lost their parents, and they think they have nothing to go home to. But what they don't realize is that I lost my mother too, Amy Deluca, the only thing close to a parent that I ever had. Until now. But I want to go back because I miss humanity. I miss a place where the laughter rings out loud, where you can keep things about yourself away from total strangers, where I was only expected to carry on, each day, the best I could. I wasn't expected to work miracles. And when I did, I could be proud, because they were unexpected, because they were right. Not because they were predestined.  
  
Back to the topic at hand. . . The first things I saw were the lights. I remember how I shied away from those lights, and things just went downhill from there.  
  
I met my mother, and my three sisters, and (to tell you the truth) I hated them all. They were vicious to Maria, rude to Liz, and condescending to us all, even me. The only way we kept them from taking our partners away from us was by saying that we were married, and Maria, Liz, Isabel, and Tess were pregnant. Unfortunately, that also meant we'd have to get them pregnant really soon. It wasn't too terribly hard. Apparently all our worries about inter-species uh, crossovers, were totally unfounded. There is more human in us than alien. The girls were good sports about it too. They all figured they were old enough, and since we gave them the decision, they took responsibility. It wasn't until after the four babies were born that the troubles started.  
  
We've had to fight tooth and nail to keep our children with us. They wanted to take them away and train them in more alien ways, to keep them from human contamination. Only our status as leaders of the planet (at least in name) kept Maria and my Kally, Kyle and Tess' Sarah, Max and Liz's Tore, and Isabel and Alex's Aaron with us. Then the fighting began.  
  
I really want to go back to Earth, where my wife and daughter will be safe, where I can be free again. . .   


Part Three- Isabel pov.

***

I never expected to be forced into pregnancy. I never expected to be pregnant at all. When I was living at home, with my two brothers, keeping myself away from all close contact, there was never any possibility. Then, when Alex came along and swept me off my feet, it seemed too dangerous to even attempt.  
  
I always wanted a baby. Something that was me, and not me at the same time. Another glimmer to the diamond walls around my life, a hopeful ray of light. I don't know why this desire was always in me, but I suspect it was partly my destiny programming, and partly my own loneliness.  
  
It wasn't possible, but if it had been, I would've liked a choice. When it became possible, I had no choice.  
  
Alex, well, all the guys really, were really nice about it, and gave us the decision. But the decision was either not take the chance and lose Alex, or take the chance. There were no other options. I hate Michael's mother with a passion. In the end, the choice was made for us.  
  
Aaron was born nine months later, in the middle of the planet's night. He came into the world calm, gentle, and beautiful. He reminds me of his father.  
  
Keeping him with us wasn't easy, but somehow Max and Liz made a pact with Michael's mother, and everything was, if not okay, at least calmer.  
  
Then the fighting began, and I had no choice but to leave Aaron behind and go to war. The aliens wouldn't let us take our spouses with us; they thought they would be a weakness. So I left Aaron with his father and his Aunt Liz, and prayed for the best.  
  
The battle took weeks, more weeks then I would care to count, even if I did have a calendar. I don't care to think about that battle; it hurt my soul, even if I wasn't wounded. When the fight was over, and we had won, my little Aaron was two years old, and didn't even know me. I had to start over.  
  
I think about home a lot. I don't mean our "home" on the smaller continent of this planet, where we lived until the fighting began. I mean my real home, with mom and dad, back in Roswell, New Mexico. The others don't talk about it much; they all believe we have nothing to go back to, but I have memories of a time where I could be happy with my friends in a place where we were safe and accepted.  
  
Acceptance. That is what we all thought we'd find here. When we daydreamed about "home" we thought they would be people like us, who thought like us and spoke like us and dreamed like us. Not like this. Our daydreams did not have the cold condescension behind their eyes.  
  
I dream about home, now, as the place where the sun blazed hot across the endless desert, the place where aliens were rumor and myth, the place where my Aaron could grow up like any human boy, instead of being plastered with rules and orders.  
  
Alex isn't happy either, but he'd never let me know it. He thinks I like it here, or at least he pretends to think so. He knows me better, I think, than I know myself. He knows I want to like it here, so he lets me think I do. I love him so much, it hurts sometimes.  
  
That's what they don't have here. Love. They do not love like we do. Love is what makes the difference, in the end.  


Part Four- Kyle pov.

***

My life has been a continuous waste of time. I spent so much time in high school boozing and smooching and watching sports. Now as I sit here, watching my wife reuniting with our daughter, I wish I had done something exciting. Something important. Something for both of them.  
  
Sure, I helped to save a planet, but I had no choice. I helped save the lives of four people, but I had selfish reasons. I haven't done a single, worthwhile, un-provoked thing in my life.   
  
Even Sarah was provoked, even Tess was provoked, for god sake. Not that I regret either of them. But if there was one thing in my life that I want to do for them, for the group, it is to bring us all home.  
  
No one talks about it. It's total taboo around here. But I've been watching them for most of my life in envy, and now that I watch them in love, I find the picture hasn't changed much. They are still searching. Before, they were searching for a way to go. Now they are searching for a way back.  
  
I love them, you know. More than life itself, and all that bull crap, as I used to think of it. They are my life. My Tess. My wife. I don't know why she loves me, but I know she does, and I can't help but be thankful for that. She blew off her destiny for me. She gave up her chance for acceptance here for me. She held me when I cried with homesickness, and laughed giddily with me when I kissed her. All I did was make her pregnant. She gave me Sarah, our beautiful Sarah. I want to give her something in return.   
  
She's been away for so long, fighting in a war that had nothing to do with her, and everything to do with the birthright she gave up when she chose me. Now that she's back, I'm going to be here for her. I'm going to be her shoulder to cry on, her arm to hang onto, her smiling face when she needs to be cheered. I'm also going to do something I would never have dared to do, if it wasn't for her.  
  
These alien assholes that have made our lives miserable since we got here are going to get a taste of Kyle Valenti. My wife wants to go home, so that is where we're going!   


Part Five- Maria pov.

***

I hate to admit it, but I'm not the same anymore.  
  
The old Maria Deluca would have been furious about the entrapment we have found ourselves in. The moment we stepped aboard that grape jelly contraption, as Liz likes to call it, our lives became a living hell. Sure, at first it was all fun, when everyone though we were heroes. But then Michael's mother came into the picture, and she hated us. Then came all the lies, and all the pain of separation and the knowledge that Michael had to leave Kally and me alone, and *he didn't even want to*. . .  
  
The thing is, Maria Deluca ceased to be, and Maria Guerin came into being rather spontaneously. And Maria Guerin is quiet. Maria Guerin doesn't want to lose her husband again.  
  
I've heard that Kyle is going to try and convince them to send us home. I hope it works, I sincerely do, but I can't be Maria Deluca, and I can't go fight with him. I can't stand with him and fight for the people I love. Because if the walls fall around our castle, I have to be here to pick up the pieces.  
  
Kally is crying right now. I don't need to get up, though; Michael will be by her side in a heart beat. He will cradle her, and comfort her, and after she falls asleep he will come to me. He will kiss me and he will love me and he will hold me like he never means to let go. I can't lose that. I can't lose him.  
  
See, Maria Guerin sounds so selfish, doesn't she? I hate being like this. I hate it; not being able to fight back, for fear of what I might lose. Maria Deluca, she was afraid too, but she didn't let it show. She pounded right into the middle of the fight and swung her fists like she had some idea of what she was doing. But Maria Guerin can't do that, because she has lost so much already, and if she loses her Michael and her Kally, she might as well die. They are her life, and if the aliens take them away again, she will have no life. I hate it. But sometimes that's the way it has to be.  
  
Michael understands. He can see my soul, he knows what I have been through these past couple years. And he hates that he wasn't here when I lost my second baby.  
  
I was going to name him Steven.   
  
The thing is, the thing we both know and are afraid to admit, is that if we had been at home, I wouldn't have lost my Steven. Our Steven. Because my step-mother wouldn't have been able to get by him to slip me the poison. She killed my baby. She almost killed me, and what she doesn't realize is, she would have killed Michael by doing so. We are joined, far more strongly than fate or destiny should allow, and we are joined in a way only the other six can understand. If he dies, I die. If I die, he dies.   
  
Michael understands, and when he comes to sit beside me tonight, he'll wrap his arms around me, and we will make love. We will try to forget that Kyle is facing them for us all, that he could use our help. We will try, and we will not succeed.   
  
But that is all we can do; forget. Because if we remember, we will realize once again that we have become cowards, shells of our former selves. We must go home to heal, and yet we can not move our feet in the right direction. We have lost so much, and we cannot lose each other. Not again. Never again.   
  
I love him too much to let him go. So much for self-sacrifice; good thing it's mutual.  
  


Part Six- Max pov.

***

Today has restored my faith in miracles.  
  
I remember a time when miracles seemed to be a daily event. Each smile on Liz's face, each touch of her lips, every caress of her hands, these were all miracles to me. And they still are, even though we are an old decrepit married couple of twenty one. What was lost was my faith that these miracles could bring any change, that they could truly last, no matter how many obstacles we overcame. Today I have found my faith.   
  
It's strange that Kyle has brought it about. For the first year of Liz and my relationship, he hated me. I admit I didn't think much of him, either. But he has worked a different kind of miracle, an impossible kind. I keep pinching myself, trying to see if I will wake up. I haven't woken up yet, but it still feels like a dream.  
  
Home. Real home, not here. Earth. Roswell, New Mexico. The place where I have all my memories stored, waiting for me. My parents may not be there but my heart is, whatever heart is left over when Liz and Tore and the other eight are taken into consideration. We're going there. We are really going home!   
  
My Tore is going to be able to grow up with his cousins in a place where they will be normal, and not ridiculed for their differences. Liz and I can get a proper home, proper jobs, although if my mother holds true to her word, we won't have to work cause we'll be rich. . . I'll be able to be myself again, in a place where I am free.  
  
The rivals are gone. Finished. There are no more. We will be safe.  
  
Kally and Sarah can get jobs at the Crashdown, and someday there will be boys to stare at them while they serve Will Smith burgers and Blood Of Alien smoothies.  
  
Tore and Aaron will be able to cruise around town in a worn down vehicle, searching for answers to questions they don't know, and they will discover themselves in some girl's heart. . .  
  
Maria can regain her spice, Michael can regain his courage, Isabel can regain her heart, Alex can regain his humor, Tess can regain her trust, Kyle can regain his kindness, Liz can regain her sweetness, and I can regain my soul.  
  
Away from these eyes that jeer, these hearts that hate, we can heal, and become ourselves again.  
  
If it is true, I have every reason in the world to rejoice.  
  
Please, let it go through. Let us go home. . .  


Part Seven- Tess pov.

***

I have the most wonderful, thoughtful, caring, loving husband in the world.  
  
No doubt Liz, Isabel, and Maria would disagree with me.  
  
Come to think of it, I don't think Kyle would agree with me either. But he is. He knew I wanted to go home, and he did something about it. I know he did it for me, because he has no secrets from me, even if he thinks he does.   
  
I don't know why I'm so eager to go home to Roswell. I only lived there two years before the Rivals showed up out of the blue. I didn't even like it much. Every street in that town reminded me that I had another home somewhere else. . .  
  
Hey, I was young, inexperienced, and totally brainwashed. Remember the whole destiny fiasco from sophomore year? I didn't understand anything more than what I had been told by Nasedo, and he described the home planet as a paradise.  
  
He forgot to mention that it might not be such a paradise for humans.  
  
Now I think back to Roswell, and I remember each street as one that led to a friend. I remember the whole alien theme as the endless hours of enjoyment we all got out of 'if they only knew. . .' I remember the feeling of freedom. In less than three days, I will be there again.  
  
I know it won't be the same. I know that there will be no Jeff and Nancy Parker to give me a place inside, out of the storm. No Phillip Evans to help me through my troubles, legal and otherwise, no Diane Evans to make my chicken soup when I have a cold. No Amy Deluca to give me a job, and a helping hand; no Jim Valenti to keep me safe. I will miss them, but it has been three years, and it's time I faced it and moved on. There is still a life for me in Roswell, a life I really want to live.   
  
I remember a line from a movie, or a poem, rather; I can't remember it exactly, but it was something about sucking the marrow out of life. I'm tired of my stagnant, rule controlled life here, and I don't want Sarah growing up here. I want to suck all the marrow out of life, I want to live the fullest life I can. I'm only twenty one, I have a life time left to discover. I can't do that here.  
  
Kyle knew that, and that's why he did what he did.  
  
That's why I have the best husband in the world. In either world.   
  


Part Eight- Alex pov.

***

This is not where I expected to be, when I looked at my life at age eleven and thought, 'where will I be in ten years?'  
  
For one, I never expected to be married to Isabel Evans (Isabel Whitman, I love the sound of it!) I never expected to have a two year old son. And I definitely didn't expect to be on a foreign planet where my wife's family has practically held us hostage. But what I expected even less was to be rejoicing because I was going back to Roswell.  
  
Funny, how things change as you grow.  
  
I'm looking out a porthole (of sorts) as the Earth grows nearer. Aaron is sitting on my lap, watching in awe. He understands much more than other children his age; I wonder if it's an alien thing. Or maybe it's just a result of two brilliant parents and six brilliant aunts and uncles.   
  
I've been told that these people will be setting us up financially for life, a sort of guilty thank you for saving the planet. It's nice to know, but I think I'll get a job anyway. No reason to make people suspicious.   
  
Mom and Dad aren't there, I know. It's strange to be going home without the knowledge that they'll be there to meet me. Not that they would be, even if they were still alive. I miss them, but I agree with the others; we have to go on with our lives.   
  
Isabel is holding my hand, tucked as close beside me as she can be. I love her so much it's unreal, and now we will be free to pursue that love and see where it goes. There will be no boundaries here; none of the unbreakable kind, anyway. I will be free to love Isabel, and free to make all our old classmates who are still around wildly envious. I'm looking forward to that part. Isabel just clouted me in the shoulder. I should've known she was reading this instead of watching the scenery.  
  
In just minutes, we will say our final good-byes. I don't think any of us will regret it at all.   
  
We belong here. We always have. We always will.   
  
For the first time, I know, for a fact, that I belong somewhere. In Roswell, with Isabel in my arms, with my wonderful Aaron, and with the group, my best friends for life.   
  
I belong. What a wonderful feeling.   
  
  
Part Nine-Everyone  
***  
Max: We got home safely, but not everything was as we had expected.  
  
Liz: They lied to us. Our parents are alive, they're okay!  
  
Michael: They were a little shocked by our news, but they seem okay with it. Amy is thrilled with Kally, and is absolutely determined to spoil her rotten.  
  
Maria: Kally likes it here, a lot. I think she has more of a connection to this place than she has to the planet of her birth.  
  
Kyle: My dad was more than surprised when I walked in with Tess Harding-now-Valenti. Sarah nearly had him off his feet. But I have a feeling he's going to spoil her even more than Diane will. . .  
  
Tess: All the parents welcomed me like I was their own daughter. I feel so enveloped in love, here.  
  
Alex: We were all welcomed home with open arms, once both sides got over the shock of the other side being alive.  
  
Isabel: They started helping us find new lives for ourselves.   
  
Max: Liz and I bought a little house on the edge of town. Not huge, but big enough for us, and Tore, and. . .  
  
Liz: I'm pregnant again. I'm so happy I can hardly breathe.  
  
Michael: Maria is going nuts over the apartment we got. I guess after three years in a mostly sterile environment she's allowed to go paint crazy. . .  
  
Maria: I'm going to help my mom run her store. It's not exactly my prime idea of an occupation, but it should be fun, and it's not like I need the money or anything.   
  
Kyle: I found a house over near the high school that Tess is absolutely going to love. It's got all the little crannies and corners that she could ever want.  
  
Tess: I finally have a yard for Sarah to play in, and a family. Kyle and I decided to go to Egypt this winter, to explore. . .  
  
Alex: I saw Paulie, one of Kyle's groupies from high school today, and I was right. He's absolutely green with envy!  
  
Isabel: I've never felt so safe before. I have my family back! I have Alex, I have my parents, I have my son, I have my friends and brother and their children. I have all the love that anyone could ask for, and more. This is all I really ever wanted. . . strange, that I would find it here. . .  
  
Max: I can let my son be alone for three seconds, and know that he'll be all right. I can send my wife off to the store, or to lunch with her friends, and not feel that I should be there to protect her. We are safe. I am safe. The dreams are gone and I can be at peace.   
  
Liz: I finally have a semi-normal life. Well, not exactly normal, when you consider that Tore left a silver handprint on his grandmother's table top, I don't know how we're going to explain that. . . but we are free to make our own choices at last.  
  
Michael: Maria's finally becoming herself again. She's finally rediscovering color, light, sparkles, and happy things. The apartment was just the beginning, I assure you. I am finding the girl inside her again, and with that girl comes a part of me I thought I had lost a long time ago.  
  
Maria: I still remember him every day. Steven, I mean. Time doesn't make the pain grow less. But I am learning to deal with the pain, steadily. . . I think this new baby will help. I'm going to call her Anne.  
  
Kyle: Tess and I may have to put off our trip to Egypt for awhile, at least until the baby is born. She won't tell me, but I think it's a boy. She is so happy, the happiness almost radiates from her. She is so beautiful.  
  
Tess: Kyle is crazy if he thinks we are putting off our trip. I'll climb pyramids pregnant if I have to! My life is so full, I think I will burst. . . and I don't care one bit.  
  
Alex: I have a theory on the pregnancy thing. I think the girls were to depressed to conceive, before, so their bodies are taking revenge. I mean, the first time, it was planned, but now it's frankly ridiculous! If you could only see the grin on my face right now. . .  
  
Isabel: So we're going to have four new babies in the spring. Four! Our parents might be a little disturbed, but I know it was meant to be. Our destiny wasn't in some far away place. It was right here all along.  
  
Max: There is one thing I know.  
  
Liz: Whatever happens next. . .  
  
Michael: We will face it together. . .  
  
Maria: Because together, we are strong.  
  
Kyle: We have a right to our own lives  
  
Tess: And we will take it, no matter what,  
  
Alex: Because we believe  
  
Isabel: In each other, and the value of home.  
  
THE END  
  



End file.
